Impulsive (The Soldier's Firm Hand) (3 page)

“Let me go!” Logically I knew I was being ridiculous. I wasn’t a little girl anymore. Nobody took an adult seriously if they were afraid of the dark. Unfortunately, logic and terror have nothing to do with each other.

“Not until you convince me you aren’t going to go tearing out the door when I do.”

“I’m fine. It was just a moment of panic. I’m... not a big fan of the dark.”

He gave me a comforting squeeze. “No kidding.”

I sagged against his chest, concentrating on slowing down my breathing and getting myself back under control. With every breath, I was becoming more and more aware of how close he was. His arm pressed under my breasts, lifting them up high and plump. My nipples tightened, aching for him to shift his grip and brush against them.
Bad idea, such a bad idea.

“You can put me down now, big guy.”

He chuckled and loosened his hold enough that I could put my feet on the floor and twist around to get a good look at him. My hands spread out against his stomach, where I could feel his tight muscles flexing under my palms with his every movement.

Oh my.
The air between us crackled with energy that rivaled the storm outside.

I didn’t understand why I reacted so strongly to this man every time we touched. I took pictures of people on beaches for a living! It’s not like there weren’t always plenty of good looking guys around, usually wearing less than Jared. What was it about him that made me want to throw caution to the wind and find out what those abs felt like under my tongue?

Shadows covered his face, obscuring his reaction, but neither of us seemed inclined to pull away, and his grip was slowly feeling more passionate than concerned. Everywhere we touched seemed to tingle with awareness.

Jared’s fingers caressed my back. “You want to tell me what that was about?”

“Not really.” Heat pooled low in my core as his eyes followed my tongue sliding over my lower lip. We could talk about my stupid childhood phobia whenever, but right now I wanted to get this thing between us out of my system.

It was becoming a serious problem, and I could only see one viable solution.

He seemed to agree, because our mouths came together in an almost violent tangle of need. Jared lifted me up as if I weighed nothing and slammed my back into the door hard enough to rattle the pictures on the wall. I wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him closer, wanting more.

I raised my arms and he pulled his undershirt off over my head. My bra covered everything, but hid nothing. Dark, pebbled nipples stood out clearly under the sheer fabric. With his hips pinning me to the door, his arms were free, and he palmed my breasts, squeezing hard enough to make me gasp. Nerve endings fired, sending erotic signals straight to my dripping sex.

He rolled my nipples between his fingers, making me squirm and moan. The steely length of his erection was growing quickly between us. It pressed against me, hard and full of promise. Jared was big all over it seemed, and there were
way
too many clothes in the way.

I dug my fingers into his hair, ripping my mouth from his. “This is crazy. Why do I want you so badly?” The urgency of my own need scared me a little.

He squeezed my swollen breasts then let go, slapping them with enough force to sting and make me crave him even more. “Fate? Chemistry? Hell if I know,” Jared growled. “You’re trouble, kitten, maybe I should’ve left you out in the rain.” Licking up my neck before biting down, the pinch of his blunt teeth sent flames licking across my body.

I ached to feel him, skin to skin, so I reached down between us, wiggling my fingers into the top of his jeans. They met with the velvety soft tip of his straining cock and he hissed, warm breath tickling my ear.

Behind me, the door shook, and this time it wasn’t us. At first I thought it was the storm, but it definitely wasn’t the weather yelling out there. “Open up! This fucking wind is about to rip my balls off!”

Jared swore, and pressed his forehead against the door with a resigned sigh. His grip loosened and I slid to the floor, aching with pent up desire, and more confused than ever. Stopping was the last thing on my mind, but maybe this was the reality check I needed to keep from doing something stupid.

“Get decent, it’s my brother. I called him while you were asleep to see if you could get a ride out of here.” He rubbed his face with his hands and took a deep breath. “The little shit’s always had horrible timing.”

“Right, okay.” I scrambled to find my discarded shirt. “Of course.” Just because
my
phone wasn’t working didn’t mean he didn’t have one.

The pounding started again.

“Alright! Enough already.” Jared flung open the door and glared. His whole body was tense, frustration oozing off him like a black fog. “Would it have killed you to call back? I thought she was stuck out here.”

“Oh yeeeeah! Why didn’t I think of that?” Jared’s brother mocked. “Maybe because I did, but it wouldn’t go through, dumbass.”

My jaw just about dropped when he walked in and shook off his coat. Where did they grow men like this? Because I was pretty sure I could get rich selling the location to single ladies all over the world. Could it be bottled?

They were obviously cut from nearly identical molds. Jared was touch taller, but they were both equally built, and just as sexy. His brother did look more laid back though, hair longer and with a less dangerous look about him. Of the two of them I’d put money on this one being the heart breaker.

“Well, hello there.” He grinned, flashing perfect white teeth. “I’m Grant, the better looking, less moody of the Pate brothers. You must be Lauren.”

“Hi.” My cheeks heated at the intensity of his smile. Definitely the player in the family. Jared would have just grunted at me. I looked back and forth between them. “Does this mean I’m going back? I’m sure Jared will be glad to get me out of his way.”

Jared shrugged noncommittally, but he didn’t look happy. Probably annoyed about getting interrupted in the middle of... whatever that was about to be.
Liar, you know exactly where that was headed.

Well, he’d just have to deal with it, because Grant had saved us from making a huge mistake. I was no prude, but one night stands definitely weren’t my style, and I was afraid that given the strength of my reactions to Jared, I would never be able to keep it simple between us.

It would be better to just get out of there before I went too far and my heart got involved. I had enough trouble keeping my life on track with just me to worry about. I didn’t need a crabby alpha-male with a penchant for spanking complicating things.

Grant shook his head. “Sorry, babe, but I’m going to have to haul his ugly ass back with us.” He leveled a serious look at his brother. “There is no official evacuation, but Mom and Dad would skin me alive if they found out I left you out here and anything happened. The phones are flaky and the power is out. Grab your stuff and lets go.”

Jared’s eyes narrowed. He looked like he was about to argue.
Typical.

I poked him in the chest with my finger. “Don’t you dare. You’d tell me the exact same thing and if I didn’t listen to you, you know damn well you’d call it stupid, so don’t act like you’re freakin’ Superman or whoever. Even the people in charge have to listen once in a while.”

Grant burst out laughing. “She’s known you all of a couple hours and already has your number nailed, bro. Give up now while you’re ahead. If you still are.” He clapped Jared on the shoulder. “I think I like her.”

*** Jared ***

W
atching Lauren walk into the hotel felt disturbingly like abandoning her. She’d been quiet the whole back back to town. Too quiet from what little he’d gotten to know of her, but Jared hadn’t know what to say, or even if it was his place to say it.

Shit. She wasn’t his girlfriend. Why did he have to keep reminding himself of that?

Taking her back had been the right thing to do. There were plenty of people in the hotel, and all of her things were there. It was where she was
supposed
to be, not camping out with a horny stranger in the dark. So why couldn’t he shake the nagging feeling of disappointment that felt like a hell of a lot more than just a bad case of blue balls?

“So you wanna tell me what I interrupted earlier?” Grant smirked, eyes on the road but mind apparently in the gutter. “I wasn’t about to say anything in front of Lauren, but you two were giving me flashbacks of when Dad caught you in the basement with Carol Hanson in 10th grade.”

Jared snorted. “No comment, and I think you mean when you
ratted me out
.”

“Whatever, it’s all a bit hazy. You can’t blame a guy for being curious. My days of wild sexual escapades are coming to an end, so I’m going to have to live vicariously through you. Quite frankly, the pickings lately have been slim.”

“Poor you. Stuck with a beautiful girlfriend and a pretty little girl waiting for you at home.” His sarcasm came out more bitter than intended.

Grant ignored the dig. “Don’t give me that line. You could have it too, if you wanted. Do you? Because if you find a chick who’s willing to love your kinky ass you should put a ring on it, ASAP.”

This was hitting close to a nerve Jared didn’t even know he had. One more reminder that his younger brother was going to be the first to really grow up and settle down, something nobody would have suggested five years ago. Not that he for a moment begrudged Grant his happiness.

It just would’ve been nice to feel like his own life was moving forwards too.

Rain hammered down on the roof of the truck, falling from sickly yellow-grey skies. Gloomy weather for gloomy thoughts. A lot of his Army buddies had gotten married early, but to him the perks had never seemed worth the stress and hassle. Not to mention that the right woman hadn’t exactly fallen into his lap.

Deciding to re-up though, that had changed things. Putting off moving on with his life made sense for a few years, but he couldn’t pretend he was okay with never having a wife and kids, even if it meant juggling deployment and a family.

Maybe fate had dropped the right girl at his feet instead.

He barely knew her, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Lauren asleep in his clothes, in his bed. A bed they would probably have been sharing right now if Grant hadn’t shown up at the worst possible moment.

Grant pulled the truck into the parking lot at the hospital where he and his girlfriend worked. “That’s Janie’s SUV. What the hell is she doing here?” As soon as they were parked, he jumped out and rushed inside at record speed.

Jared laughed and pulled up his hood. His brother might complain about being tied down, but it was all bluster. Those two girls were the center of his world, something that was obvious to anyone who looked in Grant’s eyes when he talked about Janie and her daughter.

What would it be like to have that, to have someone who really
got
him?

Life would be simpler if “normal” worked for him, but none of the eager military groupies that hung around the bars near base had ever held his interest for long. Women who could accept his need to protect and control in and out of the bedroom didn’t exactly grow on trees.

An ex-girlfriend once told him he was just too much. Too big, too alpha, too intense. Good qualities for someone who had to give orders and know they would be listened to, but not what most women seemed to want in a long term partner. In his experience they either got fed up and left, or turned into pushovers.

What he needed was someone who could bend when he needed it, but not be afraid to call him on his shit when he was stuck too far up his own ass to see it.

Someone like the stray photographer whose soft skin was burned into his memory. He could still feel the weight of her over his lap, and the tingle in his palm from spanking her generous ass. His cock stirred, reminding him of how close he’d come to taking her right there against the door.

“Don’t be an idiot,” he scolded himself.

Just because there was a spark between them didn’t mean anything would come of it. She’d probably be gone as soon as the weather cleared. Hell, for all he knew she had a guy back wherever home was. He didn’t really believe that though. His gut was telling him she wasn’t the type to forget to mention that sort of thing.

Jared yanked the door open against the wind. If he wasn’t stuck back at the cottage, he might as well see if there was anywhere he could lend a hand.

*** Lauren ***

A
fter being holed up in the hotel all day with nothing to do, I was about to go crazy. If it wasn’t for my e-reader, I’m not sure what I would’ve done, but it wouldn’t have been pretty. Everyone seemed to be betting on the storm blowing itself out overnight, and I hoped they were right. Maybe I could finally get some work done.

Three days of the five I had put aside for this trip were already gone and the only really useful shots I’d gotten were from right before the storm hit the day before. I’d taken a few of people socializing around the hotel, but that was just out of desperation to feel like I was doing something.

I should’ve been heading to bed, but there was a steamy romance burning a hole in my to-be-read pile, and I was all out of chocolate. The bar in my bag was long gone and the kitchen had closed up hours ago.

It was time for a snack run, and as it turned out I wasn’t the only one still up.

“Hey guys, you couldn’t sleep either?” Betty and George were playing cards in the game room the staff had set up. They seemed to be in there more often than not, but it was getting pretty late.

I’d gotten to know them pretty well over the last day or so. Betty was a veritable font of information about the area, and of course the people who lived there. The stereotypical small town gossip mill was alive and well around these parts.

“We’re just a couple of old night owls, dear.” Betty smiled. “How are you holding up? Any news from the Pate boy? I’d be surprised if he didn’t call to check up on you. Did you make sure to thank him
properly
?”